Born in Banská Bystrica in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kotleba attended the local Jozef Murgas High School before enrolling at the Sports Grammar School specialising in sports. After finishing the Grammar School he enrolled at the Matej Bel University receiving a Master's Degree in Pedagogics, later he once again enrolled at the Economics faculty at the same university and graduated with a master's degree in Economics.
In 2003, Kotleba founded the far-right political party Slovak Togetherness. In 2007 the Slovak interior ministry banned the party from running and campaigning in elections, however it still functioned as a civic organisation. In 2009 he ran for the post of Governor of the Banská Bystrica region and received 10% of the votes. In the 2013 local elections he ran again and this time received approximately 20% of the votes, thereby securing a run-off against favourite Vladimír Maňka. Kotleba won the run-off by receiving 55% of the votes. Kotleba's win was described as a "shock" by political analysts, who attributed it to deep anti-Romani sentiments in the region. Observers originally had said that they saw almost no chance for Kotleba to succeed in the second round against Maňka, but nonetheless found his strong showing "disturbing". Prior to the 2016 elections to the National Council, he renamed his party Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko to Kotleba – Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko. Despite the polls suggesting the 1.5–3.5% gain of votes, the party rocketed to the parliament with a gain of over 8% of the vote. Despite elements of Neo-Nazism, the post-electoral polls suggest that his success was a result of dissatisfaction with the running of Slovakia and was seen as a protest vote against the ruling Smer – Sociálna demokracia and the fractured right. It was also linked to the fall of the Christian Democratic Movement, the Christian conservative party, and the European migrant crisis. He was defeated in the Slovak regional elections of 2017 by an independent candidate, Ján Lunter.
International Views
Russia and Syria
Kotleba is known for his sympathy towards Russian Federation and Syrian Arab Republic, having slogans during presidential campaign in 2019 such as "For Slavic unity, against war with Russia" or declaring on national television that "Bashar Al-Assad is a hero of the Middle-East". Kotleba also made trips to Syria, having met with Syrian House Speaker and Foreign Minister of Syria. It was revealed upon his departure from Banská Bystrica governorship from the documents found there, that he wanted to send a letter to Russian ambassador, in which he asked for assistance and profoundly wrote about his intention to buy a Russian car. He also spoke critically of American intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria, once reading all of United States involvement in regime change in the Slovak Parliament.
